The Tempest
by xTheNamelessx
Summary: The Triceratons have been defeated but troubles are not over for the gang. New foes will rise and the turtles will be called to face their greater fear and defeat Shredder once and for all. Apritello/Leorai and many favorite TMNT comic characters.
1. Chapter 1

**Alternate storyline for TMNT 2012. I do not own TMNT or most of the characters in this story. I only own the OCS. I hope you enjoy your reading, R &R!**

Pink rays illuminate the dark apartment. The only sound is of Kraang lasers charging. Then it moves on to scan the next in line. The ray disappears and something swift moves from the back of the couch to the rim of the open window.

It's still there. Beneath it a couple dozen droids stare blankly at the wall. The scanner moves and so does their small party.

"Is it gone yet?" a trembling whisper echoes faintly in the room.

"Shhhh!" comes the response as the creature sticks her back to the cold wall, struggling to catch one last glimpse of the aliens before they turn around in the corner. A deep breath is released. "Yeah."

Something crawls between the furniture, creeps towards the window then stands up on two human-like feet.

"What are we going to do?" the voice keeps trembling. The eldest fugitive glances down at the other and sighs. She's bruising cold. A thick, white tail wraps around spiky shoulders.

"Once they've ran their midnight scan…we're out of here."

"But Al…"

"No buts. We can't stay stuck in here forever. The ones who don't move, die. It's in the rule of nature."

"I don't think that's very relevant…"

"Nelly, if we stay here they will find us sooner or later. I don't know how the scanners haven't tracked us down yet but…"

A noise was heard from outside. A light breeze entered through the window. They froze in their spots as another dozen Kraang-droids appeared in the corner. They produced odd signaling noises and Al clearly saw a metallic finger pointing towards the two of them.

"Kraang must get mutants that escaped from Kraang!"

A short breath was drawn and one could easily hear Nelly's heartbeat rising and the audible gulp that tore Al's throat.

"Run! Run Nelly!"

They dashed to the front door of their apartment and assuming Kraang would approach them from the front made their way to the rooftop. Al could clearly hear the heavy robotic feet clashing with the metal steps of the emergency staircase. They trapped themselves in a corner of the roof, gasping for air. Al turned to her sister.

"Look, I'll go around from the front and stall them. You have to go! Go back to the dojo and look for Mei! She will know what to do."

Nelly's ruby eyes widened to the point where they almost fell out of her skull. "Al you…"

A fluffy palm covered Nelly's muzzle as her sister wrapped her free arm around her shoulders in a loose hug.

"Take care of yourself, sister."

"Al wait!"

But before she could speak another word the fox-like creature had already dashed towards the front of the rooftop, her white fur doused in magenta lasers as the Kraang started to chase her around. Nelly did not have a chance to process what was happening because three armed droids appeared behind her.

"Mutant must come with Kraang. Resistance to Kraang is futile."

She shook her head stepping backwards, both arms stretched in front of her. One-two….the third step did not meet with ground. The tickle in her belly triggered her instinct and she curled in mid-air into a ball of spikes.

She hit the ground with a loud thud and rolled behind a garbage bin.


	2. Chapter 2

**Present Day, NYC, China Town**

"Guh! Why am I always stuck with you on Shredder patrol?"

Mikey looked up, mouth dripping with BBQ sauce.

"'Cause you're one lucky guuuyyy bro!" he responded with a whimsical smirk. Raph gave him an exhausted eyeroll and turned around.

"Come on, we've got to check the west of China Town too..." he said, holding back a sob. "It's just not fair…why doesn't Leo ever take him along, huh? What am I a ninja or Mikey's babysitter!?"

His younger brother did not seem to be listening to Raphael's mumbling but he followed close enough to bump on him after a miscalculated jump.

"Hey watch it!" Raph yelled and turned around sharply, fist hanging in the air.

"Sorry Raph…" Mikey shrank in his spot giving him a cute puppy-eye. Raph snorted and walked to the edge of the rooftop, glaring down at the alleyway beneath them.

"Nothing's happening here, I don't see why we should stay out in the freezing cold staring at garbage bins!"

As Raph was muttering to himself he didn't notice the oddly shaped object lying next to the garbage bin below his feet.

"Hey what's that?" Mikey pointed at the bin and before Raph had a chance to stop him, he started to climb down the gap.

"Oh great!" He growled and followed his little brother.

Mikey neared the object which from a closer look now seemed to be part of the building's wall rather than attached to the bin. It was covered in trash-bags and various waste were forming an odd circle; the garbage would stay in a circular shape and not slip to form a pile as they should have. Mikey of course did not think of all that but he realized, out of instinct, that something was odd about that thing and slowly reached out to touch an aluminum can that was defying the laws of gravity.

"What's up?" Raph neared him slowly from behind, keeping an eye out on the street.

Mikey's pupils had dilated and his mouth slightly hung open as he reached out and touched the can that instantly shrunk as if it was pushed against a stake. And as Mikey kept pushing it he finally touched the tip of that stake. He flinched in pain and Raphael rushed next to him.

"Auch!" He yelled, jumping around and kissing his sore finger.

"Are you ok? What was that?"

"Pointy stake!" Mikey thrusted the finger of his uninjured arm towards the object. Raphael neared the ball of trash and touched it too. He applied the slightest bit of pressure he could and still felt a pinch at the tip of his finger.

"I have a bad feeling about this. We should call the guys." He said and pulled out his T-Phone.

Mikey gave it another shot, reaching out to the can again. This time it slid even further, revealing the point of what seemed to be a very sharp prick. It shone in the dim street light, its color a mix between gold and ash. All of a sudden, the mass huffed, sending Mikey into Raph's lap.

"What the-!" growled the latter, T-phone sliding from his fingers. He dropped his little brother and glared at him fiercely. Mikey pointed frantically at the object.

"Dude! It made a noise!" he said, sliding behind his brother's shell. Raph's brow bone shot up.

"Ok that's it. I'm calling Leo."

Twenty minutes later they were carefully lowering the sharp object down the sewer entrance. Raph had the rear end while Mikey was lowering it slowly.

"'Sup guys?"

The sudden voice made Mikey jump and drop his end, forcing all of the ball's weight on poor Raph who landed on his back and if it hadn't been for his tough plastron and sharpened reflexes he would've been impaled. The ball landed with a small jump on the ground and Raph could swear he heard a low yelp.

"MIIIIKEY!"

Mikey bit his lip and turned around to see Casey staring down the sewer as well.

"Hey Casey. We found this weird thing and we're taking it to Donnie…"

"I COULD'VE _DIED_! I SWEAR WHEN YOU COME DOWN HERE…."

Raph's angry yelling echoed through the sewer entrance and Mikey gulped audibly.

"Heh, better come lend a hand to you guys." Casey grinned and climbed down as well.

After a while they reached the lair, Raph still being incredibly frustrated and Mikey hiding behind Casey the whole time. Leo was pacing left and right nervously and jumped when he saw them.

"At last! What took you so long?"

"Mikey trying to KILL me!" Raph growled, glaring at his brother over the levitated object. Casey rolled his eyes and placed his end down slowly as did the other two simultaneously. Leo huffed and neared the bizarre and stinky object. He reached out to poke it but Raph grabbed his finger before he could.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. That thing's covered with spikes." Leo looked up at his brother and nodded.

"Well we better take that to Donnie. He says he has taken all the precautions he could think of so it won't be a problem…whatever it is."

Leo carefully grabbed an end. Casey looked at Raph who shrugged and helped his brother to it.

They carried the 'thing' to the lab where they helped Donnie clean it up and it was finally revealed to all that this was in fact a ball of spikes.

"Fascinating!" Donnie exclaimed, running it through various heat scanners and X-Rays. "It appears to be 100% organic!"

"So it's alive?" Leo asked, arms crossed around his plastron.

"Well, in a sense. I mean yes it is a living 'being' if that's what you're asking, but its metabolism is very slow. Like painfully slow…I doubt this thing has eaten anything for months!" responded Donnie, still plugging various scanners all around the creature.

"Bro…that's creepy…" Mikey whispered close to Raph.

"Maybe bringing this 'thing' in here wasn't such a good idea…I mean a sleeping prickle-ball? Come on? We don't even know what this thing is!" Raph complained.

"You're right." Agreed Donnie, pulling out a the long cables of what appeared to be a heartbeat monitor. "And we won't find out until we wake it up."

That last sentence shed a long silence amongst them. Raph was the first to speak up.

"I know you're curious, Don, but what if it's a turtle-eating-prickle-ball? Huh? Or some kind of deranged alien that wants to take over Earth again? I mean don't get me wrong but we've prevented a fair-share of invasions and I don't really want to go to space again. Ever."

"Why? You could re-unite with your girlfriend again." Mikey teased. The others snorted a laugh while Raph's cheeks matched his bandana.

"You little…"

"Guys!" Leo intervened. "Raph's right. We need to be careful. But what if this creature is in need of help? We should at least give it a chance…"

"It's too dangerous!"

"No it's not if we keep an eye out! And if things get bad you could pull out your Captain Zoraph again." Leo smirked and Raph was literally boiling hot with anger.

"FINE! You know what? Don't listen to me! It's ok! Just don't call 'Raph please help us!' when that 'thing' wakes up and decides it's time for breakfast!" He threw his hands up in the air and stormed out. A couple of seconds later they heard the door to his room bang shut. Donnie sat in front of his laptop and started his research.

"Interesting. It appears that this is some kind of mutated animal. Perhaps a cross between a human and some sort of spiked mammal. DNA indicates that it may be some hedgehog species."

"A hedgehog? Dude I love hedgehogs!" Mikey said, eyes glowing. Leo raised a brow bone.

"I didn't know hedgehogs live in cities…" Casey mumbled.

"Not a wild hedgehog. It's a hybrid called the African Pygmy. They have been bred by humans to keep as companions and thus the odd-coloring."

Leo glanced at the shiny pricks with their champagne color. Some of them had light brown rings on them.

"Well that explains a lot." Donnie mumbled as he was scrolling down the page.

"What?" Leo turned around sharply, he was starting to get goosebumps from the presence of this odd creature.

"Hedgehogs will go into hibernation when the temperatures are too low. But it could have searched for a hiding place...instead it falls into hibernation...That would imply that our little guy might have sentiently chosen to go to sleep."

"So it has intelligence?"

"Yes and logic too, probably. I'm pretty sure we're talking about a mutated hedgehog pet. Being half-human would explain how it had the logic to go into sleep and preserve himself."

"We'll name him !"

The three of them turned around to see Mikey petting the sharp quills.

"We won't name him Mikey! We won't even keep him! We will just wait to see if wakes up and asks for help that's all." Leo said, pulling his little brother away from the creature by the rim of his shell.

"And what if he doesn't need help? Or if he doesn't wake up!" Mikey complained.

"Then we let him go. We'll release him back to the countryside or something. Until then you keep a close eye on him Donnie. We'll leave you to work."

Donnie nodded and Leo dragged Mikey outside. Casey followed after throwing a final glance at the creature.

"Oh man! But I've always wanted a pet hedgehog!"

"You didn't even know they existed until now!"

"Yes but ever since I found out I've always wanted one!"

"It has only been a minute since you found out Mikey!"

Donnie heard their voices fade out as Leo dragged the garage door shut behind him. He got off the laptop and neared his testing tubes where Karai's therapy was still being tested. And he worked like this, taking little breaks to check his phone –his heart would always pound harder when he checked for any messages from April- and returning disappointed to his work until the hours went by and his lids felt droopy. He was very determined though and he kept working until his elbows slid to the side as he was resting his head on them and he fell asleep on his desk.

" _Look April, I'm tired of pretending! You know how I feel and I need you to answer me this; will you be my forever girl? We will beat Shredder and protect NYC, just you, me and the guys! What say you?"_

" _Oh Donnie, I would love that!"_

 _He looked deep into those beautiful eyes and took a deep breath. With all his courage he leaned in and felt the collision of her soft, warm lips against his. She tasted like happiness. He felt her tiny waist pressing against his plastron. So that's what paradise felt like…Her slim arms wrapped around his neck as he lifted her off the ground. She giggled against his mouth._

" _You're the best, Donnie!"_

 _A goofy smirk was spread across his face as April leaned in for another kiss that tickled. Oh, wait, what?_

" _April? Why does your mouth feel…wet?" April pulled back and looked at him but the giggling didn't stop._

" _Mei?"_

"… _Wh-what?"_

" _Mei? Is that you?"_

He snapped out of his dream, heavy lids lifting slowly. He could not fight the urge to go back into his dream world but a little voice in the back of his head was yelling at him that he had to stay alert. He felt air being blown into his face as if something was…sniffing him!?

He pulled back with a shriek and the intruder shrieked in return. And then it curled into a ball that would huff and puff on Donnie's desk.

"Wh-what the…"

Leo stormed inside the lab.

"Donnie? Are you okay?" he said, running to him.

"Yeah…our visitor has woken up."


End file.
